Roses
DISCLAIMER: Ginny and Luna are not mine, they are the property of JKR, Bloomsbury, Warner Bros et al.
A/N- This is my first fic that could be described as femslash. Thanks to Calixa for the beta!
It started out very innocently. The kind of thing that you could just explain away, and no one would ask any questions. No awkwardness. She was just put with her naturally because she was the only girl, she was a nuisance, she didn't belong. She was allowed to run down to the dilapidated house in the village and play with her friend in large, empty rooms that transformed themselves into instant playgrounds for the senses of two nine-year-olds bent on having fun.
ring a ring o'roses, a pocket full of posies
They would sit in the garden and make daisy-chains, the white almost disappearing against her white-blonde hair. Luna liked the other girl's hair, found endless joy in playing with it and turning it into twists, ponytails, endless curlicues. The russet strands made a stark contrast with her white thin wrist. They played hide and seek, timing how long it took to find the other person. Ginny would search frantically through all the rooms of the house, Luna's faint humming almost taunting her, just out of her reach, seeming to be at once far away and all around her. She found her in the attic, trying on one of her mother's old dresses, twirling dreamily with a far-off look of vacancy in her eyes. Ginny was so relieved to find her friend that she threw her arms around her impulsively, a childish hug of the kind that promised everlasting friendship.
They swapped charms that night, Luna showing Ginny the two odd-shaped balls, which, when held, were supposed to glow according to the strength of the friendship.
"They'll glow forever 'cause we'll always be friends," affirmed Ginny, in a voice full of youthful optimism and promises of eternity.
Luna only smiled and replied, "Yes, forever."
ashes, ashes
Luna's father did not come home until late that night, and the two girls thought it was a fine adventure rather than a cause for concern. They sat in Luna's room, the ceiling of which was charmed to look like the stars, talking, dreaming, eating, playing exploding snap, until time became meaningless and all that was there was friendship. This was all changed by the slam of the door and the hesitant footsteps that announced Mr Lovegood's arrival home. He entered the bedroom with merely a cursory glance at Ginny, and ran to pick up Luna, enfolding her roughly in his arms to the extent that Luna cried out softly. Ginny could see that something was wrong immediately by the pallor in his face and the wild look in his eyes. Suddenly, a house where she'd felt as welcome as in her own home had morphed into something unfriendly, something tense, something worrying.
"Daddy... what's happened?" Luna asked, pulling back and staring at him, looking worried. "Where's Mummy?" In answer to this, Mr Lovegood's eyes just grew mistier, and he pulled his daughter tighter to him.
"They don't know. They don't know where she is and they won't tell me, those Unspeakables never tell anyone to anything even when it's concerning their own family, all they'd tell me is that there were complications with one of the spells that she performed and that she is… irretrievable," he recounted in an uncharacteristic display of frankness in front of his young daughter, too distraught to think of distressing her.
"They... they told us to prepare for the worst."
Ginny stayed at Luna's house that night, that night of endless worry and not knowing where Mrs Lovegood was. Huddled under the bedcovers- without a second thought- they'd slept in each other's beds countless times before, of course- she tried unsuccessfully to fall asleep, arms wrapped around Luna in a hopeful gesture of comfort and reassurance. The moonlight cast a sliver through the window onto the bedcovers, and Ginny could feel Luna's tears cold on her skin.
ashes, ashes
It was later, much later, and they weren't children anymore. Ginny was sixteen, and Luna fifteen and they were supposed to be grown-up now after that night seven years ago when the world began to become dark. They had to act differently, as well. People began to ask questions about two friends who were still this comfortable with each other. People began to make assumptions. Luna saw them. Whispers in corners, furtive looks, sly giggling. Luna was used to it, though. She'd never known any different from them, so she could ignore it. She had her memories, her dreams, and her books. She wasn't lonely.
A loud thump came from outside the door as Luna was the only one at home. Her father was at work again. He'd barely been at home since her mother had gone missing, day in, day out, he'd always been working overtime just so he wouldn't have to think about her. Luna almost welcomed this, as when he was home he had a perpetual, unearthly look of unspoken horror in his eyes, often given to being moody and uncommunicative with her. She was scared at first of this, but soon came to recognise it as a frequent occurence and learned to adapt to it.
This thump had been getting more insistent, but it was only a coughing screech of her own name that brought Luna running to the door. It couldn't be...
"Mother? Mother? Mummy?!" Luna cried in disbelief, frantically scrabbling to undo the three complicated chain-locks that her father always kept on the door. She finally wrenched it open and gasped in horror at the sight.
Her mother was sprawled on the front step as if someone had just picked her up and thrown her there. Every visible part of her body was scratched or bruised, and one bright blue eye was swollen beyond all recognition. One leg was sticking out at an awkward angle beneath her, and she held her right wrist at an awkward angle. Her wand was in two ragged pieces beside her.
"Luna..."
"Mother, Mummy, what happened?"
"Kidnapped...time... there is no time... they hurt me."
"Who?"
"Get… get your father... please..." Her breath hitched unsteadily and tears came to her eyes as she struggled to get the words out.
Luna ran. She ran as fast as she could into her father's study where she was never allowed to go, climbing up on the heavily upholstered chair to grab the tall jar of Floo Powder. She struggled with the jar top repeatedly, until it burst open with a small pop of accidental magic. A handful of powder later, and she'd stuck her head in the fire.
"The office of the Quibbler!"
Luna could only feel that she was shaking in those few agonising seconds before her father's familiar face appeared. She could only choke out a few words... "Mum, it's Mum, please come, please come now!" before wrenching her head out of the fire and running back to her mother.
Luna could always see herself in this dream- this vision- in a situation similar to an out-of-body experience. She saw her nine-year-old-self run frantically to the door, her father, having Apparated, being two steps behind. She saw, with almost a detached dispassionate look, her and her father throw themselves down on either side of her mother. She saw the expression on her father's face once he realised it was too late, she saw her mother's breathing stop, and she saw the tears, afterwards. Yet still, Luna did not cry.
She knew what it was like to lose someone, but she didn't cry now. Why grieve? They're only waiting on the other side.
It was midnight, and Luna was still in her spot near the windows of the Ravenclaw common room. Most of the other students had returned to bed, but Luna was still staring at the stars. It was fortunate, therefore, that she was the first to hear a small but insistent tapping on the other side of the entrance.
The portrait opened to reveal a very dishevelled Ginny. Her usually tidy hair was bunched, messy and unwashed, and her eyes were swollen and red. When Luna calmly exited the common room and led her away to the Room of Requirement, Ginny could utter no more than a shuddering, drawn-out breath in the consequent journey.
Let us have a place to talk, please…
When they were finally alone in the Room of Requirement, which had changed into one with a comfy sofa, blankets and two cups of sweet hot chocolate on the adjoining table, Luna glanced at Ginny questioningly.
"It's Mum. She's gone."
She only needed utter those four words before Luna embraced her awkwardly, and Ginny was somewhat comforted by this. Luna whispered in her ear, "She's with them now. On the other side. Still there," and her mouth was close to her ear and it wasn't only the words that made Ginny cry but also the understanding behind them, the acknowledgment of someone who had suffered the same loss, yet it was also the tingle up her spine that resulted from such a connection and somehow it just all melted together until she kissed Luna roughly and that was enough. For she could forget. Momentarily.
We all fall down.